Wednesday, February 28, 2007

Based on the NCRL list for this week's comics shipping from Diamond, here are a few things to look for at the local comic shop later today:

The Pick of the Week is the first volume of Keiko Takemiya's classic sci-fi manga To Terra. It's very cool that Vertical brings out such classic manga in translation.

In other comics:

Antarctic have a new issue of Ninja High School (#147).

Boom! have the fifth issue of Hero Squared.

Dark Horse have the fifth volume of Path of the Assassin.

DC have the first Jack of Fables collection; a new Firestorm collection; a second Showcase Presents Green Lantern; and new issues of 52 (week 43), 100 Bullets (#81), Blue Beetle (#12), Firestorm (#33), Jack of Fables (#8), and Supergirl and the Legion (#27).

Drawn & Quarterly have the hardcover OGN Aya.

Evil Twin have the eighth issue of Action Philosophers, the "Senseless Violence Special."

Fantagraphics have the latest issue of The Comics Journal (#281).

IDW have a new issue of Fallen Angel (#13) and a second Fallen Angel collection.

Illusive Arts finally have the seventh issue of Dorothy.

Image have new issues of Noble Causes (#27) and The Walking Dead (#35).

ITEM! I sat down to listen to the latest DC Podcast, which was the audio from the DCU panel at NYCC. But after about 5 min. I decided that Dan Didio, who was emceeing the affair, was too darn annoying to listen to for fifty minutes.

ITEM! The latest Xpress Graphic Novel Reviews are up at LibraryJournal.com. Among the titles covered this time out are Gødland. Vol. 2, Nosatsu Junkie. Vol. 1, and Batman Year 100.

Monday, February 19, 2007

ITEM! Saw Ghost Rider Saturday night with a group of friends. We laughed a lot. Not because the movie was trying to be funny, but because it was so ridiculous. They trotted out every single super-hero cliche, and possibly even invented a new one or two. It's one of those so-bad-it's-good movies if you're in the right frame of mind.

Friday, February 16, 2007

So in looking at the two-page spread of the new Fortress of Solitude in last week's Action Comics Annual #10, I noticed that there are statues of the old (pre-Crisis/ZH/Reboot) Legion of Super-Heroes in there, not the current LoSH.

Which led me to a realization: The current Supergirl and The Legion of Super-Heroes comic is probably set not in the future of 'New Earth' (i.e. the current DCU), but rather in the future of the 'New Parallel Earth' (or whatever they end up calling it) that is being hinted at.

This would explain why the Supergirl in SatLoSH is different than the one appearing in the modern day DCU. I also seem to recall some multiversing going on in the final issue of the old Legion when the new LoSH was introduced.

I checked out the Comics & Graphic Novels bestsellers list on Amazon; I expected that, like in bookstores, manga would rule the day at Amazon, but that's not the case. Here are the current top selling Comics & Graphic Novels at Amazon (edited to remove things on the list which aren't actually comics or graphic novels):

300

Astonishing X-Men Vol. 3: Torn

The Complete Calvin and Hobbes

Watchmen

Lost Girls

American Born Chinese

Serenity: Those Left Behind

Penny Arcade Volume 3: The Warsun Prophecies

Making Comics: Storytelling Secrets of Comics, Manga and Graphic Novels

1) Amazon updates its bestsellers lists hourly, so it'll probably be different by the time you look at it.

2) There are a lot of non-comics books on the list; it's unknown if there are any comics & graphic novels that didn't make the list because they're labeled wrong.

(Manga is a subcategory of Comics & Graphic Novels; there is a separate Manga bestsllers list, and it does track with the broader list.)

Why such a poor showing for manga in Amazon? I have a couple of theories:

1) Amazon's pricing structure usually doesn't give discounts on items priced under $10; since most manga are $9.99 or less, there's no cost savings for ordering most manga on Amazon. (Although that doesn't stop the similarly priced Serenity graphic novel from hitting the top ten.)

2) One needs a credit card to order from Amazon; teenagers--one of manga's major audiences--typically don't have credit cards.

A few more observations about the list:

* 300 on top is not surprising, since the movie comes out next month. Good to see Dark Horse having movie-related product available before the movie for a change.

* Big ticket items make a strong showing, with The Complete Calvin & Hobbes and Lost Girls both in the top 5. Amazon shoppers love those 40% discounts on expensive hardcover box sets!

Monday, February 12, 2007

One of my all-time favorite manga series is Masashi Tanaka's Gon, a wonderful comic about a take-no-duff little dinosaur living in the present natural world. Tanaka is a fantastic draftsman and storyteller; there's no dialog or sound effects in Gon, just expertly crafted drawings of animals and their surroundings. The way that Tanaka is able to get emotion out of his realistic animal characters is astounding. Oh, and it's really funny too.

Gon was the first manga series published by DC, pre-CMX (under the Paradox Press imprint). Five volumes came out, that was a while ago and they're out of print. But potential good news: in an interview with Newsarama, Gail Simone lets slip that DC/CMX is likely bring back Gon, bringing the old volumes back in print and bringing out new volume too!

Friday, February 09, 2007

* Have you noticed that all of DC's Superman titles are perpetually running late these days? We expect it on All Star Superman, and Superman/Batman & Supergirl have been plagued with lateness from the get-go. But these days Action Comics, Superman, and the new Superman Confidential are suffering from delays. One or two titles once in a while is understandable; but the entire line? I don't recall offhand who the editor of the Superman line is these days, but it sounds like a change is in order...

* Just finished reading Green Lantern Corps #5-6 last night. Golly what a boring title! How can one take the inherently cool concept of an interstellar police force--starring Guy Garder no less--and make it deadly dull is beyond me. Dave Gibbons has many virtues as a comic creator, but writing super-hero comics is not one of them.

* You know who would make the perfect writer for a Supergirl comic? Sean McKeever. He's newly exclusive to DC; coming off Spider-Man Loves Mary Jane, one of Marvel's best titles, this would seem like the perfect fit. Toss in Les McClain as the artist and you'll have one fine comic! (And maybe it'll even come out on time...)

Thursday, February 08, 2007

Does anybody have a recommendation for good sources of news on domestic manga (both translated & OEL)? I'm thinking of the kind of coverage that sites like Comic Book Resources & Newsarama provide for the super-hero-ish stuff, but for manga.

Life in the pond can be cruel. It is home to many creatures: fish, crayfish, frogs, insects, even crows. But it is ruled over by Mr. Big, a giant turtle, who is inscrutable in his actions as he randomly chooses smaller creatures to devour. Some of the swamps denizens have had enough: they want to get rid of Mr. Big to stop his senseless killing; others argue that Mr. Big is part of the swamp itself and should be left alone. A plot is hatched anyway; but as things start to be set in motion, a wildcard in the form of an invasive species arrives in the pond.

Mr. Big is an ecological parable, but not in a preachy manner. The Dembickis' story is produced in a realistic way. Although the animals' thought processes are anthropomorphized, they serve a dual purpose in both representing instinctual motivations and as a mirror to aspects of our own human society. The animals look like real animals, not cutesy cartoons, in art that reminds me of Michael Zulli's early Puma Blues work. There's also a great sense of place in Mr. Big, with art that makes it feel 'swampy.' Different border styles are used to differentiate between action that takes place underwater, on the surface, or in the air--a nice touch.

A true all-ages book, Mr. Big will appeal to anyone with an interest in nature.

Wednesday, February 07, 2007

Based on the NCRL list for this week's comics shipping from Diamond, here are a few things to look for at the local comic shop later today:

The Pick of the Week is Shazam: The Monster Society of Evil #1, Jeff Smith's first comic since concluding Bone. If anyone stands a chance of recapturing the old Captain Marvel aesthetic while bringing it to a 21st century audience, it's Smith.

DC have a collection of American Way; a second DMZ collection; plus second volumes of Superman Chronicles and old Justice Society. There are also new issues of 52 (week 40), Action Comics Annual (#10), All New Atom (#8), Astro City: The Dark Age Book Two (#2), Jonah Hex (#16), and Midnighter (#4). Oh, and a new issue of Supergirl (#14), if anyone is interested...

IDW have the second issue of Desperadoes: Buffalo Dreams, the fourth issue of Angel: Auld Lang Syne, and the concluding issue of Spike: Asylum (#5).

Image finally have Fell #7.

Marvel have new issues of Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man (#17), The Irredeemable Ant-Man (#5), newuniversal (#4), The Punisher (#44), and Spider-Man and Power Pack (#4).

Oni have the second issue of Maintenance.

Penny Farthing have a collection of the criminally overlooked Stuart Moore's Para. Do yourself a favor and take a look see.

TokyoPop & Viz both also have tons of manga coming out this week, including new volumes of Banana Fish (vol. 18) and Nana (vol. 5).

Fables would appear to be an evergreen title too, with the Diamond chart showing 1500 of vol. 1 & 1000 of vol. 2 in December (in November it was even higher: 1700 & 1400 respectively). That's most likely 3000 new readers of Fables over the last two months of 2006, not even counting bookstore sales.

Tuesday, February 06, 2007

I know that may seem to be a funny thing to say. One need only to look at the monthly Diamond sales charts to see that super-hero comics from DC & Marvel dominate. But it's those same charts that give us a clue as to how small the super-hero comic market actually is.

Let's take a look at the current most popular super-hero comics, Marvel's Civil War mini-series. The latest issue for which we have sales figures is #5, where it moved about 273K copies. Now we know there were multiple cover incentives, and we also know that not every super-hero comics fan was buying Civil War; so let's make the math easy on ourselves and say, probably generously, that there are 300,000 people in North America who are interested in buying super-hero comics on an at least monthly basis.

Now 300,000 potential customers is nothing to sneeze at. If we assume that (again rounding to make the math easy) that there are 3000 comic book specialty stores in that market, that gives us 100 regular customers per store. Not huge, but of those customers are regulars who spend enough money you cna probably make a go of it. Of course you have to have a product that caters to those regular customers; from what we've seen over the past years, those customers like continuity-heavy, event-driven comics.

However, 300,000 is a very small number compared to the population: 300M in the US, plus another 33M in Canada. So we're talking less than one-tenth of one percent of the population is interested in regular super-hero comics. That is pretty much a standard definition of 'niche.'

I would argue that 300,000 was pretty much always been the upper limit of dedicated super-hero comics fans; even back in the early-90s heydey, when top super-hero comics could sell 1M-5M copies, it was gimick covers and speculators and collectors buying multiple copies pushing those numbers up.

300,000 is not, we should note, the upper limit of people who are interested in super-heroes themselves. The most popular super-hero movie of recent years, Spider-Man 2, took in $373,585,825 in domestic gross; if we assume $10 per ticket, that's 37 million people who wanted to watch a super-hero movie. Heroes, the #1 new television show of the season, gets nearly 14 million viewers per week.

Clearly people are interested in super-heroes, just not super-hero comics (at least as they present themselves).

300,000 is also not the number of people in North America interested in comics themselves. One need only to look at the bookstore market where teen-oriented manga and selected 'mainstream graphic novels' regularly outsell the super-hero collections quite handily.

There's nothing necessarily wrong with being a niche market. Most markets are. It means giving that market what it wants, which is why the Diamond sales charts are dominated by those types of comics.

One could make the argument (and many have) that, to break out of the niche to a larger market that is clearly interested in super-heroes, the publishers of super-hero comics should make super-hero comics that don't play to the continuity-heavy niche. The problem is that we've seen that those comics don't appeal to the niche, and thus cannot support themselves enough to survive in that ecosystem. And outside of the niche market you're competing with manga, and the manga kids have made it quite clear where they want to spend their comics dollars.

So super-hero comics are a niche, and most likely will continue to be a niche. It appeals to that niche market well enough to survive. I just don't see and clear way that it can break out; nor do I see that it necessarily should.

Monday, February 05, 2007

Cartoonist Molly Lawless sent along a couple of her chapbook-sized comics for me to review. I'm pleased to say that they are both quite enjoyable.

infandum!: Adventures in Intoxication is short--just eight pages, including covers--but she packs a lot of story in; four stories, in fact. As you might guess from the subtitle they're all about inebriation in one form or another. Two deal with religion as well: one about the odder aspects of the transubstatiation doctrine, the other as to why you should never get into the Jesus Van while stoned.

Lawless's newest comic, Great Moments in Baseball #1, highlights some of the low points in the grand history of our nation's pastime, Such as the last stand of the original Washington Senators, or the time Ty Cobb claims he killed a man. Lawless is able to fully tell these five tales in two brief pages each, and her love for the game itself comes through even as she skewers its less honorable moments.

You can read selected comics and find ordering information on Lawless's blog.

Friday, February 02, 2007

We have a new 'source' at the library for manga from Japan, and we just got our first box in today.

What was in the box? I'm glad you asked:

A two volume Best of Blackjack by Tezuka.

Volumes 4 & 5 of Tezuka's Phoenix.

A volume of Tezuka's Mighty Atom.

The four latest volumes of Inu-Yasha.

And all six volumes of Yotsuba&!.

That's right, we have volumes 4-6 of Yotsuba&! Of course they're in Japanese so I can't read a lick, but even looking at the pictures it's still a lot of fun. In one story in volume 4, the gang goes fishing (with the expected results). ADV, please get to publishing the final four volumes!

The physical quality on all of the volumes is excellent, much better than the cheaply produced editions that most of our translated manga ends up being. (And all of the above came out to costing just under US$70!)